Verstappen concerned with 'painful' gap to Ferrari

Max Verstappen considers the gap between Red Bull and Ferrari during the qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix to be ‘paniful’ as the Scuderia powered to a front-row lockout at Spa.

All weekend so far, the Dutchman has struggled to compete with both Mercedes and Ferrari as Red Bull attempt to pull extra power from somewhere without risking a decrease in reliability.

Pole position proved to be a shootout between Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, which the former won, while Verstappen finished down in fifth.

"We have been struggling all weekend with the problem that the car will not work if we want to put more power. That was also the case in qualifying. That is a shame, especially on a circuit where you really need it," Verstappen told Ziggo Sport.

"The problem started every time in Pouhon, so we had to lower the power from that point onwards. I still tried to make the best of it, but I was short on the straight. The difference with Ferrari was one second, that is quite painful.”

However, Verstappen retains some confidence that the gap will not be as large tomorrow in the GP.

"In the race you can't drive too much in qualifying mode anyway, so tomorrow we will be a little less bothered by the problems we encounter and will automatically be closer,” he added.

"I think Ferrari is really just too fast for us, but given all the problems, we were still pretty close to Mercedes, so I expect that we will be able to compete with them."

The Dutchman has won two races so far this season in Austria and Germany.

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